NVIDIA has announced its latest graphics card, the GeForce GTX 275. Based on the GT200 architecture, it features 240 processor cores operating at 1404 MHz, 80 texture processing units, a 448-bit memory interface, and an 896 MB frame buffer. NVIDIA is positioning it between the GeForce GTX 260 and the GeForce GTX 285 in price and performance.

Originally, the GTX 275 was supposed to launch on April 14, but NVIDIA was forced to pull it in due to the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 4890. The Radeon 4890 offers similar performance to the GTX 275, but DailyTech has learned that over 50,000 parts have already shipped out to the channel and are available for purchase.

In contrast, NVIDIA will only have several thousand GTX 275 video cards for sale. Although both chips are built on a 55nm process at TSMC, ATI has more experience at this node. Additionally, the RV790 chip that the Radeon 4890 uses is much smaller than the G200b chip that the GTX 275 uses.

The G200b has 1.4 billion transistors, while the RV790 only has 959 million. This affects chip yields, and ultimately the profit that NVIDIA will be able to make. When available, the GTX 275 will sell for the same $249 price point as the Radeon 4890.

NVIDIA is also releasing its GeForce Power Pack #3, which includes several free PhysX and CUDA-enabled content for GeForce owners. Power Pack #3 includes a custom PhysX patch for Ascaron’s Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, a demo and benchmark for Star Tales, a social networking game from Chinese developer QWD1, and the source code to the PhysX screensaver for community modding and distribution. There are also two new CUDA-accelerated applications: MotionDSP vReveal and SETI@home.

Update: NVIDIA wanted us to clarify that there is limited availability of the GeForce GTX 275. "The GeForce GTX 275 will be available globally on or before April 14, 2009. Some
regions are available now; other regions are available for pre-order. Current
availability varies by region. Both standard and overclocked versions are available."